Author Profiles

Ohio has a rich literary heritage as well as some wonderful contemporary authors. Learn more about them here! You can sort by various categories and see who has participated in our annual book festival by using the category search on the left, or search by keyword (including partial author names) by using the search field on the right.

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Photo of Jillian Kent

Jillian Kent

Jillian Kent’s first novel in The Ravensmoore Chronicles, Secrets of the Heart, debuted in 2011 and held readers captive winning four stars from Romantic Times and first place in the 2012 Wisconsin RWA Write Touch Contest. Also, in 2012, Chameleon, the second book in the series found its way into readers hands and hearts with an, “I dare you to solve the ending,” challenge from the author.…

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Jillian Kent’s first novel in The Ravensmoore Chronicles, Secrets of the Heart, debuted in 2011 and held readers captive winning four stars from Romantic Times and first place in the 2012 Wisconsin RWA Write Touch Contest. Also, in 2012, Chameleon, the second book in the series found its way into readers hands and hearts with an, “I dare you to solve the ending,” challenge from the author. Mystery of the Heart, book three in the series (2013) is already grabbing the attention of readers who love a romantic adventure. Jillian resides in Cincinnati, Ohio where she is employed as a counselor for nursing students. She’s married, the mother of two adult daughters, and loves animals, chocolate, and coffee. You can find her on the web at http://www.jilliankent.com.

Photo of Aya Khalil

Aya Khalil

Aya Khalil is the award-winning author of picture books and board books. Aya holds a master’s degree in education. Aya and her books have been featured on Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, and USA Today. She immigrated from Egypt to the United States when she was young and currently lives with her partner and three children in Northwest Ohio.…Read More

Aya Khalil is the award-winning author of picture books and board books. Aya holds a master’s degree in education. Aya and her books have been featured on Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, and USA Today. She immigrated from Egypt to the United States when she was young and currently lives with her partner and three children in Northwest Ohio. Aya invites you to visit her online at: ayakhalil.com.

Photo of Intisar Khanani

Intisar Khanani

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. She has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world.…Read More

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. She has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea. Until recently, Intisar wrote grants and developed projects to address community health with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. She is the author of The Sunbolt Chronicles and Thorn.

Photo of Brendan Kiely

Brendan Kiely

Brendan Kiely is The New York Times bestselling author of All American Boys (with Jason Reynolds), Tradition, The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter. His most recent book is The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. His work has been published in over a dozen languages, and has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers Award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults.…Read More

Brendan Kiely is The New York Times bestselling author of All American Boys (with Jason Reynolds), Tradition, The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter. His most recent book is The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. His work has been published in over a dozen languages, and has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers Award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. A former high school teacher, he is now on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program. He watches too much basketball and reads too many books at the same time, but most importantly, he lives for and loves his wife and son.

Photo of Romana Kieti

Romana Kieti

Romana is a passionate author, speaker, and advocate dedicated to empowering women who have experienced or are currently navigating abusive relationships. She is a survivor of domestic abuse, with a deep passion for helping others overcome adversity. She uses her personal journey to inspire hope and healing through writing and speaking. Her book (memoir), Scars of Matrimony: Tina’s Story of Hope & Despair, tells of her determination to survive against all odds; storytelling is a powerful tool to encourage and give hope to others to know they are not alone.…Read More

Romana is a passionate author, speaker, and advocate dedicated to empowering women who have experienced or are currently navigating abusive relationships.

She is a survivor of domestic abuse, with a deep passion for helping others overcome adversity. She uses her personal journey to inspire hope and healing through writing and speaking. Her book (memoir), Scars of Matrimony: Tina’s Story of Hope & Despair, tells of her determination to survive against all odds; storytelling is a powerful tool to encourage and give hope to others to know they are not alone. Telling your story can offer a compassionate and empowering perspective on the effects of domestic abuse, providing a roadmap to finding strength, recovery, and freedom. Initially, she did not want to release this book but felt a calling from God to share her experience to inspire others.

Romana’s advocacy is fueled by her determination to help others in similar situations. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing red flags in relationships, seeking help from safe places, and understanding that abusers rarely change. Her message to other survivors is clear: leave while you still have your life, seek support, and never feel ashamed to confide in someone about the abuse.

Since the release of her book, she has been advocating for change and is dedicated to empowering and inspiring women who have experienced domestic abuse. With firsthand experience and deep understanding, she offers hope, strength, and practical guidance to help women reclaim their lives, rebuild their confidence, and step into their true potential. Romana’s mission is to provide the tools to heal, thrive, and rise above the challenges that domestic abuse creates. She is committed to creating a safe space for women to connect, learn, and find the courage to move forward with their lives. Her other books include:

Scars of Matrimony: Broken Yet Unbreakable: 31 Daily Devotions for Women on the Path to Healing from Abuse

Safari Wisdom: Essential Safari Tips for and Unforgettable Adventure to Kenya, Africa

The Brave and Courageous Dreamers: A collection of Adventure Folk Tales from Kenya, Africa

Romana holds a degree in human resource management and a master’s degree in business administration. When not working, Romana enjoys spending time with her family, travelling, road trips, swimming, reading, cooking, dancing and outdoor activities. She is also the Founder of Hope Anew Rescue Center. Learn more at: https://hoperescuecenter.org/

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Joey S. Kim

I am an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Toledo. Prior to arriving in Toledo, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Boston University's Kilachand Honors College and held teaching positions at Ohio State and UT-Austin. I research and teach global Anglophone literature with a focus on 18th- and 19th-century poetics and aesthetics. My first book project, Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation, identifies a new mode of cultural production, what I deem a “poetics of orientation,” in nineteenth-century Romantic literature.…Read More

I am an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Toledo. Prior to arriving in Toledo, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Boston University’s Kilachand Honors College and held teaching positions at Ohio State and UT-Austin. I research and teach global Anglophone literature with a focus on 18th- and 19th-century poetics and aesthetics. My first book project, Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation, identifies a new mode of cultural production, what I deem a “poetics of orientation,” in nineteenth-century Romantic literature. This “poetics of orientation” roots the self-formation of the poetic subject in forms of cultural difference. In addition to nineteenth-century topics, I also work on global Asian culture and multiethnic U.S. literature. My next book project, The Yellow Nineteenth Century, traces Asian North American culture through print culture and newspapers in the postbellum period. My research has been supported by the NEH, the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Athenaeum, the Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, and others. I have published work in Essays in RomanticismLA Review of Books, American Periodicals, Pleiades: Literature in Context, The Keats-Shelley Review, The Keats-Shelley Journal, Shondaland, The Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies, and elsewhere. A poet as well as a literary critic, my award-winning debut book of poems, Body Facts, was released by Diode Editions on June 15, 2021.

Visit her website at: https://www.joeyskim.com/

Photo of David Kimmel

David Kimmel

David Kimmel is a descendant of one of the suspects in the Secaur murder. He is an award-winning professor of English at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, where he investigates the boundary between historical writing and historical fiction. Outrage in Ohio is his debut work.Read More

David Kimmel is a descendant of one of the suspects in the Secaur murder. He is an award-winning professor of English at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, where he investigates the boundary between historical writing and historical fiction. Outrage in Ohio is his debut work.

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Bob King

Bob King is a Professor of English at Kent State University at Stark & has taught at KSU for 26 years, earning multiple teaching distinctions. He holds degrees from Loyola University Chicago & Indiana University (MFA, poetry), where he was Editor of Indiana Review. His first poetry collection, And & And, is now available (August 30, 2024), and his second poetry collection, And/Or, will be available in September 2025.…Read More

Bob King is a Professor of English at Kent State University at Stark & has taught at KSU for 26 years, earning multiple teaching distinctions. He holds degrees from Loyola University Chicago & Indiana University (MFA, poetry), where he was Editor of Indiana Review. His first poetry collection, And & And, is now available (August 30, 2024), and his second poetry collection, And/Or, will be available in September 2025. Both titles are being published by Finishing Line Press. He’s a former recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship and part of a team that won a 2023-2024 National Endowment for the Arts/Arts Midwest Big Read Communities Grant. In 2023 editors from three journals nominated his poems for a Pushcart Prize: The Hooghly Review, LEON Literary Review, and Paddler Press. And two editors nominated his poems for Best of the Net Anthology 2024: Blue Flame Review and The Gorko Gazette. Other past poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Narrative Magazine, Olney Magazine, Erato Magazine, Ink Sweat & Tears, Full House Literary, Allium: a Journal of Poetry & Prose, Muleskinner, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Northwest Review, Quarter After Eight, and Green Mountains Review, among dozens of others. He lives in Fairview Park, Ohio, with his wife & daughters.

Photo of Mercedes King

Mercedes King

Mercedes King is an Ohio native and founding member of Buckeye Crime Writers. Mixing fact with fiction is her specialty and has served her well when it comes to crafting stories about the private lives of famous people. Although she enjoys setting her tales in not-so-distant decades, she also writes contemporary mysteries and crime fiction.Read More

Mercedes King is an Ohio native and founding member of Buckeye Crime Writers. Mixing fact with fiction is her specialty and has served her well when it comes to crafting stories about the private lives of famous people. Although she enjoys setting her tales in not-so-distant decades, she also writes contemporary mysteries and crime fiction.

Photo of Daniel Kirk

Daniel Kirk

Daniel Kirk is the author and illustrator of fifty books for children, including his best-selling series of Library Mouse books, his non-fiction picture book Rhino in the House, The Big Slide, and his latest picture book series, Newton and Curie, Science Squirrels. Library Mouse is a Booklist Editor’s Choice book, an Education.com Essential gift, a Parenting Magazine Best Mom-Tested Book of the Year, a Kansas Reading Association Award Nominee, a Booksense pick, inner of the NAPPA Gold Award, the 2011 Young Hoosiers award.…Read More

Daniel Kirk is the author and illustrator of fifty books for children, including his best-selling series of Library Mouse books, his non-fiction picture book Rhino in the House, The Big Slide, and his latest picture book series, Newton and Curie, Science Squirrels. Library Mouse is a Booklist Editor’s Choice book, an Education.com Essential gift, a Parenting Magazine Best Mom-Tested Book of the Year, a Kansas Reading Association Award Nominee, a Booksense pick, inner of the NAPPA Gold Award, the 2011 Young Hoosiers award. and a Choose to Read Ohio choice for 2013-2014. Booklist gave Library Mouse a starred review and said: “Put a mouse in a library and you have a sure seller; make the mouse a writer and you have a sure-fire hit…It’s a show stopper. Ready-made to introduce a class to writing activity…this book is fun, fun, fun.”

Newton and Curie, Science Squirrels tells the tale of a young squirrel and his sister, who learn to make simple machines and build a playground that’s just their size. They discover that science is for everyone—even squirrels! Kirkus says: “A positive and fun-filled challenge to recognize and apply the underlying principles of science in everyday life.” Booklist says: “Budding scientists will be delighted by the squirrel’s-eye view of the physical world.” Publisher’s Weekly says: “The story frames plainspoken, relatable explanations of core physics concepts and the scientific method.”